


The Eternal Climb

by tepalixed



Category: Ice Climber (Video Game), Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Mildly Eldritch Mountain, Slight Existential Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25000453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tepalixed/pseuds/tepalixed
Summary: The ice climbers know how their world works: when there's ice, they climb it. They've always been climbing. Was there a time before that? Neither Popo nor Nana can remember.
Kudos: 9





	The Eternal Climb

"Popo?"

"Yeah, Nana?"

"How did we get here?"

Popo stopped for a second, ice pick gripped firmly in one hand, hammer in the other. He looked up at Nana, whose cleated boots stuck firmly into the ice ahead of him.

"There were those eight layers of ice we broke through. You helped me up through the last one, remember?"

"And what came before that?"

Popo thought back. There was definitely ice - there was always ice. There was the ice layer he'd just smashed through, and the layer Nana had smashed through, and before that the vegetables, and then some intense smashing, the bear had gotten close, then more ice...

Popo's brow furrowed. "A lot of ice?"

Nana dug her hammer into the side of the ice so she could gesture with her free hand. "It's been a lot of ice for a while."

"Yeah. So much ice."

"So much ice."

There was a pause.

"Was there something before the ice?"

"Like a condor?"

"Not a condor. Below all the ice."

Popo looked down at the hole they'd smashed in order to climb up to the ledge below them. Through the outline he could barely make out the hole in the layer beneath that - and just the barest glance of a jagged third hole revealing foggy white clouds below it. "I don't see anything down there. It's just clouds."

Nana's voice became firm. "There's always clouds."

"Yeah. And ice to climb."

"Yeah."

It felt kind of silly, saying something so simple out loud. There was a pause.

"There's ground below the clouds. I know it's there."

"How do you know?"

"It's where the vegetables come from."

"But the vegetables are already on the mountain when we get there."

"Do you think they come from the mountain?"

"Maybe the seals bring them up."

"How? Would they carry them up on their backs?"

"I guess they'd have to. From the ground, I mean."

"Sounds rough for the seals."

"Yeah. Maybe you're right. They probably do grow up here."

"Yeah."

"If there is a ground, we should visit it sometime."

"Yeah. Once we're done climbing up, we could climb down."

"Down there?"

"Yeah."

The wind howled, as it normally did, in a haunting 8-bit melody.

"It's kind of cloudy down there. We wouldn't be able to see anything on our way down."

"Maybe we could see through the clouds if we climbed down far enough."

"Do you think so? Or would it just be all white?"

"I don't really know how clouds work."

"Me neither."

"There's a lot of clouds around here, but I wish they were closer to the mountain. That way I could see them better, and we could learn how to see through them."

"It's hard to see the clouds when we're climbing."

"Yeah."

Popo looked down again. "It's nice, climbing with you."

"It's nice climbing with you, too. Feels like it's been forever since we first met."

"Yeah." Popo turned to look back up. "We've been climbing up for so long I'm scared to try climbing back down."

"Do you think we have to climb back down?"

"Probably."

Popo sounded hesitant. "I'm a little scared. I don't remember the last time I climbed down something. It's always been up."

"I guess we could try doing the opposite of what we do to climb up."

"Good idea, Nana."

"Thanks."

"Let's try not to forget once we reach the top of this mountain."

"Yeah."

Another pause.

"Do you think there'll be another condor on top of this mountain, Nana?"

"Last time, there was."

"Think this one's different?"

"There's been a new condor on top of every summit we've been to. This mountain doesn't feel any different to me."

"But what there wasn't a condor?"

"Then I guess it wouldn't take us to the next mountain. We couldn't climb up anymore."

"Imagine if we needed to climb it but we couldn't reach it because the condor wasn't there."

"Yeah. That would be terrible."

"Yeah."

"Do the mountains feel different to you?"

"Not really. They all look the same."

"I lose track of which mountain we're on, sometimes."

"Me too."

"It sucks when that happens."

"Yeah."

The two of them grabbed onto their hammers and continued the climb upwards, leaping from block to block.

"Where do you think they come from?"

"Come from?"

"The mountains. Do you think they've always been here? Or did they come from somewhere?"

"They're mountains, Nana. They've been here for, like, millions of years."

"I feel like I remember a time before the mountains."

"If it was flat, where did all this ice come from?"

Nana stopped on a stretch of ice and turned back to Popo. "They weren't here one day, and then they were. I don't really remember it. I think I was little back then."

"I don't think I was ever little."

"You were probably little. You know, littler than you are now."

Popo laughed. "I'm pretty sure I've always been this little."

"I guess."

"You OK, or want to take a break?"

"I don't think we should take a break. We need to keep climbing."

"Alright. I've got a vegetable if you want it."

"I don't think I need it. Let's just keep climbing."

"Alright."

And then they kept climbing.


End file.
